You Got the Interview – Now What?
Congrats: you have been selected for the funding interview! Now what?
The European public fundraising journey
Being selected for funding can be sometimes a straightforward path, but most often it resembles Odysseus’ journey to Ithaca. EU grant programmes, and especially those that offer attractive funding conditions, are flooded with highly skilled applicants, all of them aiming to be the next European unicorn.
For most funding programmes, the key revolves around a written document in which potential candidates try their best to encapsulate everything that makes them novel, unique, profitable — in short, a compelling asset for investors. Thus, written communication skills are a key factor to convey the value behind your innovation and how your team stands out above all the other many qualified applicants.
Now, to the next stage. You have presented your project idea to the EU, cramming the myriad aspects that evaluators expect from your project into an impossibly tight number of pages. You have been lucky and genius enough — both things matter almost equally — to convince evaluators you are worthy of being awarded. Yet, this is not always the end. EIC programmes like Accelerator, Transition or STEP will require you to go through an interview phase. This time, you will need to convince the members of a jury panel. You will have to both pitch your innovation and answer their questions. And you can’t edit or delete the words you speak, and you will be assessed against the other top competitors who reached that very same point. And you want to win. Because missing the interview means going back to square one and, perhaps, watching a less innovative competitor walk away with the grant (which is arguably even worse).
So, how do you prepare for the interview stage and secure a funding opportunity that is almost within your reach?
How to shine through a funding interview
Oral presentation in front of a jury is not a trivial matter. It goes beyond having nerves of steel and a good project. In a face-to-face presentation and Q&A, there is a human component that has been mostly lacking during the previous process. This means that a new component joins the success equation: impression. Yes, a good impression can skyrocket your possibilities. Some applicants dismiss the importance of positively impacting the jury, as they may believe the idea will “sell itself”. It hardly happens.
So, if you want to score all the points to capitalize the opportunity right in front of you, there are a few items you must deliver:
- A clear project plan, shared among all those who attend the interview.
- Good team chemistry, specifically when answering questions.
- The right presence (from tone to attire and attitude).
Know your project… and your proposal
In most funding interviews, the jury members will have previous knowledge of your project based on the written proposal you presented in the previous phase. However, usually only one of the jury members will have read the proposal, who will then pitch it to the rest of the jury. This works often like a broken telephone, where the knowledge of the jury will be biased by the perspective of the one who read the proposal. As such, some members may already be inclined for a certain outcome. The pitch is a perfect opportunity to ensure their positive impression stays… or correct their negative one!
A flawless presentation takes care of three aspects:
- What to say (and what not to say): Most of these presentations have a tight time limit, often 10 minutes. Delving deep into one aspect will, inevitably, subtract time of other key aspects. Think of it as a radiography of your project: discuss why and how did you come up with your solution, how your solution works, who are you catering to, how the world (and Europe) will be changed by it, what is your actual plan (short and long term), how will you profit from the solution, why you are the right team to complete the project, how will you succeed and brave any storm that comes your way, and why would someone invest in you (and what they lose if they don’t!). This is a lot to say. So be concise, clever, focus on what matters, and don’t fret about missing details — that is what the follow-up Q&A session is for!
- How the jury perceives you: Think about what impression you want to convey. A suitable attire and grooming are a first step to a good impression, but not the only. Your words, and how you accompany your words with your tone, posture, and gestures, holds much more strength that people believe. Learn pitching techniques (from tone modulation, to gesturing in the power zone, to looking where it matters), be confident and, at the same time, know where you can be humble.
- How the jury perceives your project: First off, no project is perfect, and no idea has no competition, but awareness of risks and a thought-out mitigation plan go miles. A presentation is not a slideshow. Second, a pitch presentation is not heaps of images and words put together, but a logic storytelling. The bottom line is that Europe needs to fund your idea. Thus, orchestrate your pitch in a way that everything flows naturally and there is no sense of your presentation being a last-minute collage or a mere formality.
Answer confidently, professionally, and be a team
The substance is already there. You pitched your idea, and the jury has already formed a first impression of you. By now, they already have an idea of the final score, but this may change — for good or worse —, once you answer their questions. The key here is preparedness, anticipation, and communication.
Train your questions. Specialized consultancies usually are aware of which are the kind of questions and follow-up you might get, as well as what are landmines disguised as questions and how to defuse them. But either with or without their help, you should be able to do mock up interview sessions where you practice potential questions again and again. Some questions should feel uncomfortable, hard to answer, and even ill-intentioned. The more you struggle during practice sessions, the sturdier you will become by the time the real thing comes.
It is, however, not only about what you answer. How you answer — with confidence, but without arrogance —, and how you and your colleagues decide who should answer and who should back up. Ideally, in an interview you will be people representative of different backgrounds, such as a CEO, a CTO and a CFO/CMO. Decide beforehand which questions are for each and also decide how to proceed in questions that fall on grey areas or in “no one’s land”. Decide, as well, when it is OK to back up a question (e.g., a colleague forgot a key insight, or someone has almost not participated), and be careful of patronizing attitudes (e.g., the CEO always jumping to complement the questions of the Business Developer).
Who should come to the interview?
In most cases, the CEO’s assistance is mandatory. But even when it isn’t, it is good — or rather said, it is weird that the company’s CEO decides not to attend. If the interview allows you to bring two more persons, think about role complementarity, but also think of eloquence, people skills and sharpness. The jury already knows the essence of your project, so they need to like you. In the end, they do not invest on a product or idea alone, but on a team of people that will realize the vision. They look for someone they can trust, someone that impresses, convinces and raises the stakes. And this is not only for interviews: if you want to survive and thrive in competitive markets of the world, you will need to be that team.
How can Nordic Innovators help you?
The Nordic Innovators team is as multifaceted as the jury expects your team to be. We count with people who will assist you with your presentation, suggest questions and answers, help you improve your communication skills, and provide you with the right tools and environment to excel in your presentation. We offer a comprehensive service based on mock up interviews with different people acting as jury, a core of specialists that will help you ace your pitch, and answer sharply and professionally, avoiding any of the common pitfalls of that stage.
What to do next?
If you are considering a funding opportunity where an interview is part of the process, a short, focused discussion can help you weather your possibilities:
· Book a 30-minute call to discuss opportunities matching your project pipeline, or
· Send a 1-pager for quick feedback.
